arts education policy

Local Arts Education Policy

School Boards Gaining the Arts Advantage

In 2000, the Arts Education Partnership and the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities published Gaining the Arts Advantage: Lessons from School Districts that Value Arts Education. This was the first national study to look at arts education on the school district level and it revealed success factors that lead to strong districtwide arts education programs:

"School districts with strong arts education programs generally have boards of education that provide a supportive policy framework and environment for the arts. Typically, one or more influential members of the board have had personal experiences or education that developed their knowledge and valuing of the arts and use this background to:

1. Adopt written policies that value the arts as equal to other school subjects;
2. Support the development of plans to strengthen arts education, then apportion resources in accordance with the plan;
3. Treat arts education equally with other subject areas when budget cuts are required;
4. Consider the artistic qualities of buildings and the needs of arts education programs during facility renovation and development."
   
   * Gaining the Arts Advantage: Lessons from School Districts that Value Arts Education, President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities and Arts Education Partnership, 1999

Case studies that illustrate the importance of school board leadership in developing an infrastructure that enables quality arts programs to thrive can be found in the Gaining the Arts Advantage publication.